The Waiting Game

Life continues to roll on around us... but in the back of all of our minds we wait. And wait. And wait. I guess they don't call us the 'Waits' family for nothing!!

In all seriousness, our journey to becoming a foster/adopt family has been like birthing a natural baby, or two, or three! We actually began this process years ago. Our journey toward adoption has been much like a seed.

The seed, the idea of adoption, was planted before either of our natural-born children arrived. Our intense desire to love and teach children hit a wall when we were told we might not be able to conceive. Adoption was a reasonable and exciting option. Ultimately, we did conceive, twice. We were and are thrilled to be parents of two healthy children. In reality, the fact that we have two healthy children has very little to do with our decision to adopt.

As our family has grown and matured, it was as if a person or two were missing. Nothing sad, not a reduced sense of happiness; just an odd feeling that those chairs at our table were meant for someone permanent.

The seed of adoption was watered with our children's desire to have a little brother or sister. It has been amazing to watch the transformation from 'I want a baby girl' to 'I want a baby... any kind of baby. A pink one, a purple one, a green one.' My grateful heart leaps for joy at the precious innocence of our two. They have made plans... plans for how the car will be arranged, plans for whose clothes the baby will get to wear, plans to introduce the baby to our friends and family, and secret plans that are too fun for us big folk.

The sprouting stem began to emerge from the well-fed soil in August of 2006 when our hearts were convinced that we were to adopt a child through the Texas foster care system. Thus began 30+ hours of training for each of us, an application process that proved tedious and repetitive and the wait.

We've had our FBI fingerprint check, two other background checks, six reference letters, a fire inspection, two disaster plans and a dozen phone calls & e-mails checking on the status of our application. All in all, we should have made up a song entitled "12 Days of Adoption." I'm sure it would have brought more than a few chuckles.

So, here we are, the stem is beginning to show a few leaves. We will have our home study in the next month or two. And before we know it, the stem and leaves will bear the beautiful blossom of a life!! A life added to ours.